Dragons Die, Don't They?
by AslanPrincess
Summary: When people die they're gone for good, right? Wrong. Kendra finds a certain dragon brother in the woods. Together with other Fablehaven characters, Kendra and Gavin set out to recover Warren and Kendra's and Seth's parents. And for the grand finale, defeat the Sphinx once and for all. Rated T to be safe (only for possible violence). On HIATUS until further notice.
1. Mysterious Stranger

_**Dragons Die, Don't They?**_** : A **_**Fablehaven**_** Fanfiction**

**Author's Note: **

This is my first fanfiction. I apologize for any spelling/grammar, character, or sequencing mistakes. Please ignore any POV changes and/or tense changes. I will write without reviews. But, I would love to receive them. Constructive criticism ones are the best; they really help me improve my writing. It's also great when people put ideas in their reviews (hint, hint).

Finally, this is a Gavin-only story that takes place after the fourth book. Bracken will never be mentioned except for in this sentence. Sorry if you like him, but, like I said, this is a story about Gavin, not Bracken. Please read all books before book four, I don't want to spoil anything for anyone (I spoiled the Navarog part for myself by reading all of these fanfiction stories, I don't want that to happen for anyone else. So stop reading now and find another person's fanfiction to read! Or, better yet, read the whole series!).

P.S. – Sorry for the extremely long author's note, future ones will not be that long, I promise.

**Author's Note 2:**

12/28/12

I know I really should be updating this instead of going over the chapters, but after looking over them I felt that they needed to be reviewed and edited. I have tried to correct most of the spelling and grammar errors that I can find, but some just won't change when I repost the chapter. I'm sorry if it's annoying (it is to me, at least), but like I've said before, the system just won't let me. Also, I've tried improving the characters. I've noticed that as the story goes on, the characters get less and less "fleshed out"; in other words, flat. Any ideas are still welcome!

Disclaimer: I do not own _Fablehaven_ or any recognizable characters or settings, Brandon Mull does. If I did, I would not be writing fanfiction and Gavin would not have died.

Chapter One: Mysterious Stranger

Kendra could not go to sleep. She tossed and turned in her bed. Finally, she grabbed a pair  
of clothes and shoes and threw them on. Kendra removed Gavin's letters from underneath her mattress and picked up a flashlight. Silently, she crept past Seth, who was sprawled across his bed, snoring like a bear. She smiled to herself and internally snickered; new ammo to use against him.

When Kendra reached the hall, she paused and listened. Nothing stirred. Satisfied, she continued her journey outside.

The backyard was illuminated by the moonlight. Shadows hugged the house and forest surrounding it, pooling out into the yard. The garden shimmered and glowed under the face of the full moon. Nearby, the fountain's water glistened as it quietly splashed and trickled. A few fairies twinkled here and there, tending to the flowers, making them sparkle. The garden was beautiful, magical. But what would one expect for it being on a magical preserve? Even with all the danger that surrounded it, there was no place Kendra loved more than Fablehaven. Now, this sight made her love it even more. Tearing her eyes from the beautiful moonlit garden, Kendra continued on. She traveled the well-worn path that led to the fairy shrine.

When she entered the secret hedged-in shrine, Kendra walked along the boardwalk until she made it to the third gazebo. Next to it, the water glistened in the moonlight. A few hands reached up from the water, beckoning her in, but then lazily drifted back down as they realized that Kendra would not comply.

In the gazebo, Kendra sat down on one of the intricately carved marble benches and reached into her jacket pocket for the letters. Bringing them out, she reread the all-too familiar words that she knew by heart. Now, after Gavin's betrayal, Kendra knew who Gavin really was-the dragon Navarog's avatar. Kendra could see through the lies that he had written. All of it was fake; a cover, and a really good one at that. Kendra had fallen for him hard and had been unable to see past his charming stuttering demeanor. Now she knew and would never make the same mistake again. Still, after all Gavin had done, Kendra couldn't help but wonder about what could have been. Even more surprising was that she found that she still felt for him.

Kendra's thoughts were in turmoil. '_How could he have betrayed me; everyone? How? Why do I still like him? What's wrong with me? Why did he have to be Navarog and die? ' _She thought again of the tanned stuttering boy and of the day that he revealed who he truly was.

Kendra shoved the letters back into her jacket pocket and began to walk along the boardwalk that surrounded the island. Once she was directly across from the fairy shrine, Kendra looked across the water at it and immediately felt a cool calm settle over her. "Thank you," she whispered into the breeze and turned and headed home.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

"Wake up, sleepyhead," called Seth's voice from afar.

Kendra groggily opened her eyes and was met by bright rays of sunlight spilling into the room.

"What time is it?" she inquired.

"9:15. Pretty late for a school day."

"What?!"

Seth laughed, "Just joking, sis. But it is 9:15. Everyone else woke up exactly three hours ago."

"Wow, I slept in really late."

"No duh. Usually you're up with the chickens." Then, in a news reporter's voice, Seth held up an imaginary microphone and declared, "Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, a new record has been achieved by Kendra Sorenson. She has-".

"Oh, shut up."

Kendra hopped out of her bed and started heading towards the door. Seth looked at her suspiciously.

"Why are you still dressed?"

"Huh?" Kendra looked down at her clothes. "Oh. Uh, I went for a walk last night."

"What for?" Seth demanded.

"What is this, 20 questions? Okay, since you _must_ know because it is life threatening if you don't - I went out to the fairy shrine to clear my head."

"Oh," Seth paused for a moment, and then asked "Why?"

"Well Mr. Holmes, I couldn't stop thinking about Wyrmroost," then she muttered, "A girl can't get any privacy around here!"

"Ah, Gavin," Seth said mockingly. "You still like dragon boy, huh? I can't see how that's going to work out," Seth's voice dropped to a whisper. "Because news flash, he's dead."

Seth struck a comical pose. He held his arms crossed over his chest like an Egyptian pharaoh; closed his eyes; and stuck his tongue out of the corner of his mouth.

Kendra blushed scarlet, then mumbled, "It's none of your business."

She walked out of the room, still blushing furiously.

Seth snorted "Girls. Gavin, huh. Who would've known?" He shook his head and followed her out the door.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

Kendra carefully pruned the roses, taking care not to spear herself on a thorn or clip a wandering fairy. _CRUNCH, CLOMP, CRUNCH, CLOMP. _ Kendra looked up from her gardening to see Hugo enter the yard with Seth on his shoulder.

"I thought you were going to be with Newel and Doren for the rest of the day," she called.

Seth shook his head and waved for her to come over to him. "You've got to come quickly. There's something you have to see." He looked flustered and, wait, was that _panic? _It was very unlike Seth to be panicked.

"What is it? Did Newel and Dorenfinally get busted for stealing gold?"

"No, worse. C'mon," he demanded.

'_What could possibly be worse that would make Seth nervous? Usually, he would try to run off and fight a dragon if no one was there to stop him,' Kendra_ thought to herself. _'Shouldn't he be asking Dale or Tanu or Grandpa and Grandma?' _

Seeing her worried expression, Seth added, "I can't tell you now. We've got to go. There isn't much time."

Kendra obeyed, stepping onto the hand Hugo offered before he swung her up onto his other unoccupied shoulder.

As Hugo quickly clomped back through the forest, Seth explained, somewhat. "In the clearing near where Newel and Doren and I sometimes play tennis, there's this huge rock. We found a guy in there. He's hurt, bad."

"Shouldn't you have asked me to bring the first aid kit or Grandma or Tanu?"

"No. We can do that later. You need to see who he is. I know you'll recognize him."

Sunlight dappled the forest floor. The trees started thinning, showing that they were nearing the clearing. Hugo burst out into the meadow. He raced toward a large rock formation and deposited Kendra and Seth next to it.

Seth leaped to the ground and led Kendra to the other side. There was a small entrance that led to a cave. Inside, Kendra could make out the two satyrs and a third figure lying on the ground between them. She entered the tiny cave and waited for her eyes to adjust to the darkness. Kendra gasped as soon as she recognized who it was.

"But, but …you're dead," she breathed.

Kendra sank to her knees and buried her face in her hands.


	2. Road to Recovery

**Author's Note: **

Thank you to everyone who read, reviewed, and subscribed to this in the first few days it was up! I can't believe how many of you there were! Like I said before, constructive criticism and story ideas are always welcome.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything that is related to Fablehaven or Fablehaven itself. Those belong to Brandon Mull.

Chapter Two: The Road to Recovery

He was lying prostrate on the ground. Blood was pouring out of an gruesome gash on his right upper arm and spilling onto the ground, rapidly enlarging a crimson puddle. Another small cut above his left eyebrow caused rivulets of blood to course down the side of his face. His left leg was awkwardly twisted. More minor cuts and bruises covered all visible parts of his body; Kendra could only imagine the lacerations and skin damage that was not visible. A sword lay by his side, its lethally-sharp blade stained with dried blood.

This could not be happening, Kendra had seen him die before her eyes, only a few months ago. Nobody could come back from beyond the grave, it was impossible. Yet here he was anyways. She blinked; once, twice, in hopes of having the scene before her eyes disappear. No such luck.

The boy cracked open his eyes and croaked out, "Kendra."

"Y-You died at Wyrmroost," her voice caught in her throat "I-I saw Raxtus eat you. Who are you? What do you want with me? Didn't you do enough damage the first time?" Kendra's face hardened as she struggled to not cry or let her emotions show.

An annoying voice in her head said _'You like him but then you start yelling at him. What is wrong with me?'_

"Navarog d-d-d-d-died, I didn't." he rasped. "Please Kendra, believe me." His eyes showed the pain that was not conveyed on the outside that he was enduring, the emotional pain. With that, his eyelids fluttered closed and he groaned in agony.

Seth, Newel, and Doren looked up at her gravely. This was the first time Kendra had seen any of them look so serious and solemn.

"Navarog or not," Seth said quietly "no one deserves to die twice. We need to help him Kendra, even if he gets locked up in the Quiet Box again. We can't let him suffer. He may have hurt us, but aren't you always saying we should be the bigger person? If anything, now we really should. Even if he still is Navarog, maybe it will help to change him. You never know. Please Kendra, we have to get him medical attention." Seth looked up at her, his eyes pleading and full of hope.

Kendra huffed, "I never knew there would be a day when my little brother would have to tell me to do something I'm constantly trying to remind him to do. Fine, fix him up. But after that, Grandma and Grandpa are taking care of him. It's not my place to decide what happens to him." She crossed her arms and did her best to look annoyed, but to her chagrin, found herself failing.

Once again that small voice in her head nagged at her _"You've been wishing he hadn't died and now he's here, alive. But now you treat him like he's a criminal. I _want _to like him and act like everything was like it was before Wyrmroost. Now everything that happened there is holding you back. Why can't I decide?!'_

Between the two satyrs and Seth, they managed to lift/drag Gavin outside. Kendra followed with his sword; carefully holding it away from her and her clothes.

Seth whistled. Within a few minutes, Hugo came bounding into view.

"Hugo," Seth ordered "take Gavin and us home."

Hugo placed Seth and Kendra on his shoulders again and gently cradled Gavin in his arms. He lumbered through the forest, being careful not to jar Gavin too much. When he reached the yard, he carefully placed Gavin on an empty bench and picked Seth and Kendra off of his shoulders.

Kendra stayed with the unconscious Gavin while Seth went up to the house. A few minutes later, he came out with Grandma and Grandpa Sorenson, Tanu, and a makeshift stretcher.

Grandma stopped and clapped a hand over her mouth. "Oh, Lord," she whispered. Giving his body a quick scan, she quickly ran back into the house.

Tanu and Grandpa loaded Gavin onto the makeshift stretcher and maneuvered him onto the porch. Kendra followed, still carrying the sword, and still in shock.

After ten minutes, Grandma appeared in the doorway with her hands on her hips. She was wearing a pristine white apron and surgical gloves.

"Bring him in. Kendra, leave that dirty thing out on the porch."

Kendra dropped the sword, not caring that it clattered to the ground and probably left a nice mark on the wooden porch, and filed into the house after everyone.

Tanu and Grandpa carried Gavin into the kitchen and placed him on the covered table. Grandma took control of the situation, bustling around the kitchen and ordering everyone around.

"Kendra, get a pitcher of water and a washcloth. Stan, I need a few hand towels. Tanu, get all of your first aid potions. Now!"

By the time Kendra had returned with the washcloth, everything had been set up. The table was covered by an old drop cloth, with a now conscious and moaning Gavin on top. A smaller table was off to the side with surgical tape, paper towels, scissors, thread, a needle, and spare gloves. Tanu held his potions, and Grandpa the hand towel. Grandma had what looked to Kendra like a wooden stake in her hand. Kendra sat down heavily in a chair that had been evicted from the table to watch the operation.

Grandma took the washcloth, dipped it into the water and wiped away the crusty and oozing blood. She instructed Grandpa and Tanu to apply pressure on some of the cuts that were still open.

Then, she ordered Grandpa and Tanu to restrain Gavin. Quickly, she placed both of her hand on Gavin's leg and pushed. Two sections of his leg snapped back into place and made a loud 'crack' as it did. His leg straightened and she placed the stick, which Kendra now guessed was a splint, against it.

Gavin let out a strangled yell; his face a mask of anguish. Tanu hurried to give him a potion labeled "Painkiller". Gavin stiffened as it took effect, then relaxed; his face returning to a less disturbing and painful expression. Then he gave Gavin another potion. This one was called "Healing x10".

Instantly, Gavin's remaining cuts and bruises sealed up and disappeared.

During this, Grandma had set Gavin's leg. It was propped against the splint and she was rapidly taping his leg and the splint together.

After looking over Gavin one last time, Grandma pointed at the stairs.

"The room across from Kendra and Seth. Just put him in the bed."

Kendra protested "But he's Navarog. Aren't you going to lock him up or something? Or at least restrain him?"

Grandma wiped her hands on her apron.

"We don't know if he is still Navarog. But we have taken precautions. I have had a confining spell placed on his room. He can only exit unless he's accompanied by someone. Right now, he's too weak to try anything, I hope."

Kendra nodded, knowing it was futile trying to argue with Grandma when she was like this. She trudged, downtrodden, up the stairs after Grandpa, Tanu, and Gavin.


	3. Explanations, or Deception?

**Author's Note: **Hi everyone! Sorry it took me so long to update, I've been sick and have had a buttload (courtesy of my 5th grade teacher's daughter for that saying) of homework. I know, excuses, excuses. But I really have been busy.

I can't believe how many people have read this, it's over 60 now! That's a lot for a first time fanfiction author. But, I only have **five**reviews. Tsk. Tsk. I need suggestions - characters, scenes, events, anything! Whatever you want to see in this story. A writer writes through inspiration and I need some! If you want this to go on and be exciting, then I'm going to need suggestions. Please review!

Disclaimer: Sadly, Gavin and Fablehaven belong to Brandon Mull. I have no ownership over anything Fablehaven-ish except for my own characters, scenes, etc.

Chapter Three: Explanations, or is it Deception?

Kendra stood by Gavin's bed, watching him as he slept. He looked extremely peaceful and serene for someone who had been so evil. It was probably another cover. She was not going to fall for his charms again. She had seen the results the first time and did not want to see them again.

Sunlight poured into the room, forming pools of light on the walls and floor. The bedroom was plainly furnished, as it had been put together in a rush. Which, it had. There was just a rug, bed, closet side table, dresser and a tiny desk. A bathroom peeked into view through a door in the left wall.

Kendra could not stop staring at Gavin. Grandma had cleaned him up well and Tanu's potions had done their job, but he still looked, well, terrible. She guessed anyone would after being eaten, ambushed and attacked, and suffering from starvation and thirst. At least, that was what had happened according to Seth, but he probably "embellished" it more.

Through the open window, a breeze filtered into the room. Gavin must have felt this since he stirred in bed. He cracked open an eye and spotted Kendra before she could escape.

"Hey. Come to see the invalid?"

She stared out the window, not making eye contact with Gavin. Finally, after a long silence, she asked "Why? Why did you come back?" Not letting Gavin answer, she continued "Did you just think you could come back after what you did to everyone? To me?"

Gavin sighed "I knew you would ask that. I've been thinking about it for a while. The whole time I travelled here, in fact. At first, I-I-I-I thought it was because I had no one to run to. All my past family and friends are dead. Now I realize why I really came b-b-b-back. I wanted to repay for what I did. I know you can n-n-never mend a broken heart or raise the dead. Unless you're m-me." After saying this, Gavin's mouth quirked into a sad smile.

Kendra snorted "No, you can't. You almost killed Mara and me. You did kill Dougan and you trapped Warren in another dimension. Do you expect to be greeted by hugs and smiles?"

"No, I don't. A-A-Actually, I didn't think I would even be lying here right now. Look, your reaction is perfectly normal. I expected it. You're right; a killer isn't welcomed with hugs. I'm not asking to regain anybody's friendship again, but to be forgiven and to apologize, to you especially. I kn-kn-know it's just words and probably won't heal or fix anything, but I want you to know that I really am sorry, Kendra. What I, N-Navarog – I mean, did was unforgivable."

Gavin looked up until Kendra met his eyes. He locked his gaze on her face, making eye contact, never blinking.

"I'm s-s-s-so sorry about what I did; I know it broke your heart."

Kendra burst out, "Broke my heart? You don't know how many times mind has replayed your-your," her voice broke, but she carried on "death. Every night it keeps me up, sleepless. It's been haunting me."

'I know. I'm so sorry Kendra," Gavin looked up to meet her gaze once more. "I want you to know, what I said to Seth at the d-d-d-dragon sanctuary, I meant it, about wanting to get to know you more. Th-th-that was one of the few times when Navarog let me express myself. I did care about you Kendra, e-e-even if what Navarog made me say at the end made it sound like I d-d-didn't.

Kendra snorted "How am I supposed to believe to know that I can believe you or even be sure you're not still Navarog? Can you really prove what you said?" she challenged.

Gavin sighed "I really don't know Kendra. I wish trust would work, but I know what I did is too b-b-big to be easily forgiven just because of one guy's claim. Wait, c-c-c-can you grab me that box off the desk for me, p-p-please?"

Kendra walked over to the tiny desk and picked up a small wooden box with decorative scrolls and vines all carved all over it. The name, _Elaina Rose,_ was written in flourishing script across the top. Wordlessly, Kendra handed the box to Gavin.

Gavin carefully opened the lid of the box and pulled out a pair of rings and a scrap of paper. Reaching into the bottom of the box, he pulled out a necklace. The necklace had a topaz pendant of two dragons with their necks artfully curved into a heart.

"It was my mother's," Gavin explained. "My father gave it t-t-t-to her the night they got married. If you r-r-r-rub it and say 'I call upon dragons', then any d-d-dragon in the vicinity will come in p-p-peace at your call. I w-w-w-w-want you to have it."

Grimacing with pain, he rolled over in the bed and placed the necklace in Kendra's palm.

Kendra stared at the necklace in awe. "But it's so powerful. Don't you need it? Plus, I can only communicate with dragons if Seth is touching me."

Gavin smiled "That's the beauty of it. The pendant does the work; your body won't freeze u-u-up or anything. If you're still scared, y-you can hold a lock of Seth's hair or something like that."

"Thank you. You really didn't need to do this, you know." Kendra stated. Her eyes were glistening.

Gavin grinned, a real true grin. "Does it prove I-I-I'm not lying?" he inquired.

"Definitely. Navarog would probably be too power-hungry to give up something as valuable as this."

"Probably."

Kendra fastened the necklace behind her neck and tucked the pendant under her shirt. Noticing Gavin's confused look, she explained "I don't want Grandma or Grandpa to wonder if they know what it is. I'm not sure they would approve."

Gavin nodded, and then glanced over at the clock on the nightstand. "It's time for l-l-lunch. Won't everyone be wondering where you are?"

"Oh, no!" Kendra exclaimed. Blushing furiously, Kendra raced out of the room after saying a hasty goodbye.

Smiling to himself, Gavin tucked a pillow under his head and replaced the items in the keepsake box. It felt good to see Kendra again.

O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~OO~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O

After lunch, Kendra brought a tray up to Gavin. He was sitting up in bed reading. Kendra placed the tray on the bed and craned her neck to see the title of the novel. Gavin put the book aside and dug in.

"What are you reading?" Kendra asked.

"Huckleberry Finn. Coulter dropped off a b-b-b-b-bag of books for some 'light reading'. All of them were classics. I guess he l-l-likes them."

Kendra smiled "Yeah. I never really thought of you as a classics type of person."

"Nope."

The room fell silent for a few minutes until Gavin asked "So, what are they drugging me with?"

"How did you know?"

"The food tastes different, kind of bitter or sour. Not like n-n-normal soup."

"It's some of Tanu's potions. His painkiller one and a super-speed healing one."

Gavin continued eating. Kendra shifted nervously before saying, "Grandpa and everyone else want to see you as soon as you're finished. Grandma will be up in few minutes to get you."

With that, Kendra left, rubbing her dragon pendant and mulling over her feelings. 'He's nice and he doesn't seem too bad. The dragon pendant certainly shows he cares and must have taken a lot of thought before giving it away. But what if it's another cover, like last time?' Then a little voice in her head argued, 'The Sphinx wouldn't be dumb enough use the same person twice. Vanessa said so herself. But what if he is trying to trick us, by doing something that we wouldn't expect by using Gavin again?'

Frustrated and slightly confused, Kendra shook her head. 'You'll know soon enough. By the end of the day, the truth will be out and the verdict decided. Just stop thinking about it.'


	4. Trial by Vial

**Author's Note: **Sorry about the repeated chapter. I guess I clicked on the wrong one when I posted it. Thank you to Joey for notifying me. Also, sorry about not updating for so long. We had a power outage and that delayed me on my homework. I was up late working on, and almost fell asleep in school. Thank God for three day weekends!

More action will be coming in the next few chapters. I promise that they will get out of Fablehaven and start doing things! Jessica, I will make it "doubly awesome". Please review! Once Warren is rescued, I'm going to need more ideas!

Disclaimer: I do not own Fablehaven or its characters. They belong to Brandon Mull, but I do own parts of Gavin's history.

Chapter Four: Trial by Vial

Kendra and Seth were already sitting in the living room, waiting for everyone else when Gavin entered.

Tanu's potions had done their job well. Even after just taking them, Gavin already looked better than he had before lunch. Almost all of his small scrapes and bruises were gone. The only evidence of a struggle on Gavin was the stitched up gash on his arm; the scar above his eyebrow; and of course, his broken leg.

He hobbled in on his crutches, flanked by Grandma and Grandpa. Gavin sat down on an armchair adjacent to the loveseat Kendra and Seth were sitting on. He propped his foot up on the ottoman in front of it.

Grandma, Grandpa, and Coulter sat squished together on a small leather couch. Vanessa perched on one of its arms. Tanu leaned against the wall near Gavin, two vials in his hands.

As soon as the conversations died down, Grandpa cleared his throat. He strode to the middle of the room and began talking.

"As I'm sure all of you know by now, this is Gavin Rose. If you haven't made the connection, he's the son of the legendary dragon tamer, Charlie Rose. Gavin revealed himself to be the avatar of the dragon demon prince Navarog at Wyrmroost."

At this point, Gavin cringed and Kendra stiffened. Seth noticed Kendra's reaction and smiled to himself. _'More evidence.'_ He thought to himself.

Grandpa continued "There he killed a fellow Knight, Dougan; attempted to kill Mara; and nearly killed Kendra in his … haste."

Kendra sat like a stone and Gavin winced visibly.

"He also trapped Warren in another dimension and destroyed the only known means of getting it; the knapsack." Grandpa finished up by saying, "Why he's still alive and why he came here is unknown. Today, with the help of Tanu, he will hopefully enlighten us. Tanu, take it away."

Tanu stepped forward into the middle, where Grandpa had just stood. He held up the two vials and began explaining.

"Gavin is going to explain his motives while holding this vial," Tanu held up the mentioned vial and handed it to Gavin. "If it turns red, he's lying. If it stays clear, he's telling the truth. With this vial, I'll show you what could happen."

Tanu held up the remaining vial in his hand.

"I am a Knight of the Dawn." After this statement, the vial stayed clear, confirming that his statement was true.

"I have a wife and three kids." While he was saying this, the vial turned blood red, disagreeing with Tanu's remark.

"So, Gavin's vial should look like one of these, hopefully the first one." He finished and smiled encouragingly at Gavin. "Your turn."

When Gavin had gotten up with the aid of his crutches, he hobbled into the center of the living room and took the proffered vial from Tanu.

Balancing on his crutches, vial in hand, Gavin began "On March 4th, Charlie and Elaina Rose were married. That n-n-n-night, Charlie Rose, my father, gave my mother a necklace. Its pendant depicted two dragons with their necks entwined t-t-together. My father told her it would give her the ability to communicate with d-dragons."

Immediately, Kendra's hand reached of its own accord up to her neck, clasping the pendant. Gavin's gaze focused on her, his eyes confirming her unasked question. His eyes swept his audience and he began again.

"By now, of course, my mother knew who my father was, Charlie Rose the world-renowned dragon tamer. When u-u-u-using the pendant, her powers with dragons could equal his. But my father was the adventurous one of the two, he was the one who t-t-traveled the world to study and meet new dragons. Finally, he settled down and began a family. Exactly one year after their marriage, March 4th, Elaina Rose gave birth to a son, m-m-me. I had inherited my father's dragon-taming abilities. For the next twelve years of my life, my father trained me in self-defense, w-w-weaponry, and dragon taming. Soon, my dragon communicating abilities could rival his. Albeit, when you knew me, I-I-I had the strength of a dragon, so in my earlier years, I was c-c-considerably weaker than what you h-h-have witnessed.

When I was two, my mother, on a quest for one of the five secret preserves, died in the Himalayas. The cause of d-d-death was supposed to be hypothermia. After further investigation, my father found out that she r-r-really died from poisoning. The poison was from Macophar, a dragon who was known to be an a-a-a-affiliate of the Society of the Evening Star. No one knew, and to my knowledge still doesn't know, the reason for the poisoning.

Eleven years later, my father died fighting a dragon. I was thirteen. Arlin Santos, a family f-f-friend, took me in and raised me as his own. L-l-little did I know that he was working for the Society.

When I was fourteen, he 'kidnapped' me and took me to the Sphinx. I fought, but was drugged i-i-into a magical sleep that weakened me and drained all of my strength. O-o-o-once we reached the Sphinx's mansion, I woke up. I fought and s-s-struggled, but to no avail.

In the Sphinx's … office, I guess you could call it, there were two men. One of them, I immediately r-r-r-recognized; the Sphinx. The other was a stranger. I could sense some kind of magical aura around him.

The Sphinx began e-e-explaining the reason of my 'kidnapping'. He introduced the stranger as Dewin, as sorcerer. The Sphinx said th-th-that Dewin would help me on my 'quest'.

At this point, I had no idea what he was talking about. I knew that Knights of the Dawn went on quests because my dad h-had gone off on quests for them all the time. Naturally, I assumed that this was what he m-m-meant. I didn't realize that he was a d-d-d-double agent at that time. But as he explained more and more of my m-mission, I realized that this wasn't a Knight of the Dawn quest. In fact, it was the exact o-o-opposite. I had been taken against my will to work for the enemy.

I t-t-told the Sphinx that he was not going to get me to do anything for him. Earlier, I had s-s-scouted out the room and seen that the walls were covered with weapons-swords, spears, and such. I g-g-grabbed a spear off the wall and started attacking in a frenzy, knowing that mere words weren't going to get me out of there. Suddenly, I w-wasn't able to move. I was frozen by some spell cast b-by Dewin.

The Sphinx grinned slyly at m-m-me. 'I believe our new recruit needs some assistance, don't you, Dewin?' he said.

Dewin snapped his f-fingers and chanted something under his breath.

Instantly, a section of the wall turned h-h-h-hazy, and a glowing hole appeared. An enormous black dragon stepped out and entered the room we were in. I'm g-g-guessing you know who I'm talking about – Navarog. Dewin waved his hand and the p-p-portal closed up, returning to its normal wall form.

The Sphinx turned to look at me, a sly, shifty look c-c-covering his face once more. 'Now, Gavin, would you like to do this easy way or the hard way?' He nodded at Dewin, 'Proceed.'

Dewin turned to the enormous b-black dragon and raised his hands, mumbling something. Black ribbons of smoke streaked toward him. The dragon faded away, l-l-leaving an empty space where he had just been standing.

Seconds later, the blackness flew out of Dewin; converged into a writhing black mass; and sped to me, enveloping me." Gavin's voice caught and he took the opportunity to look at his audience. They sat transfixed, sitting like statues, enamored by the story.

Gavin continued "I was slowly losing consciousness, but right before I-I-I went out, I heard a low chanting.

When I woke up, I felt different; w-w-weaker, like an alien in my own body. I soon began t-to feel the presence of another being in my head. Navarog.

From then on, I had z-z-zero control over my own body. Sure, I looked and sounded the same, but inside me something had changed. N-N-N-N-Navarog ruled me. His thoughts were my own. My body was his to command. In the beginning, I fought, h-h-hard. It was exhausting trying to fight Navarog's presence. Finally, I gave up; it was n-no use trying, I was stuck with him forever. But the part of me that was still me and wasn't c-c-c-corrupt longed for freedom. You never really understand a demon until you have one live inside you. You can n-n-n-never really realize how evil and twisted their minds are until you have to share yours with them. Once in a while, Navarog w-w-would do something that I wanted, but it was very r-rare. Mainly, he taunted me; doing things he knew would annoy me.

For two years, I lived like that. Until Wyrmroost, I thought I would never escape. Raxtus d-d-d-did me a favor by killing me. He ridded me, and the world of Navarog.

I have n-n-no idea why and how I came back. I guess it's because I had never done anything wrong to Raxtus. I-I-I don't know. I'll probably never know. But I'm glad I got a second chance at life; a life w-without Navarog.

What I do know is that one minute, searing pain was running through m-my body; the next, I was lying in a strange forest somewhere outside of Wyrmroost. I travelled back here with the aid of s-s-some dragons I had known prior to Navarog. The only slight difficulty that I ran into on my w-w-w-way here was being hounded by a pair of hungry dwarves. They were very c-c-civil after I gave them some food."

Gavin winked at Seth. "I'm afraid I didn't get ambushed or attacked, Seth. Those wounds were just from fighting the dragons at Wyrmroost."

Everyone laughed and Seth defiantly said "Just helping your story. I thought you needed more action in it."

Gavin smiled and finished up "Well, I guess that's it, my life story. From there, I ended up here because I didn't know where else to go and I thought I owed you guys a major apology. I really am sorry for everything that I – as Navarog, I mean – did. If I could reverse time and undo it all, I would. I know how mad you guys must be at me. All I can say is that I'm sorry. If you want to kick me out of here, that's fine. I deserve it. I just hope that you will realize that I didn't want to do any of that and it really wasn't me doing it. It was Navarog controlling me."

Tanu took the vial from Gavin. It was clear, not a speck of red could be seen.

"Well, today's your lucky day, Gavin. Not a lie through your whole story. So, Stan, what's the verdict?"

Everyone in the room looked to Grandpa, but Grandma spoke up for him "Well, a tale like that obviously didn't get thought up last night."

Grandpa stood up and shook Gavin's hand. "Welcome back, Gavin."

Cheers filled the room. Kendra ran over to Gavin and gave him a hug, immediately turning bright red. Gavin noticed that she had tear streaks running down her cheeks.

"So, Gavin, what do you think about going on a quest to rescue Warren?" Grandpa asked.


	5. Tools of Darkness

**Author's Note: **Thank you to everyone who is reading/reviewing/following this story! I appreciate the support you guys give me with your reviews, but please give me ideas on what you want to see in this! I will take any character recommendations, plot ideas, event/scene ideas, etc.

For those of you who like Seth, here he is. I told you it wasn't going to be only about Kendra and Gavin! Sorry if that was what you wanted to see, but I'm trying to make this as close to the way Brandon Mull writes as possible. Even though I will probably never reach his level of greatness (though killing Gavin is debatable…).

Disclaimer: I sadly don't own the Fablehaven series. All rights to it belong to Brandon Mull (how often do I have to put this?! I'm running out of creative ways to phrase it!)

Chapter Five: Tools of Darkness

Seth looked around at his surroundings warily. He knew it was not smart to go traipsing across Fablehaven without an escort, but he had no choice if he wanted to get this done.

Supposedly, Seth was going to spend the day with Newel and Doren. If he had, he would have most likely been chasing after dryads with them. Instead, he had persuaded them to go with him to Graulas's lair. They agreed, but said they would only go to the entrance of the cave and only if they got paid 30 batteries.

Seth's whole reason for going was to see if Graulas knew how to access different dimensions. This way, they might be able to find Warren faster. Of course, he would be in trouble for going to Graulas unsupervised. Graulas was a demon after all, and Fablehaven was not exactly the safest place on earth. But surely all of that would be over-looked when he told everyone he knew how to find Warren.

Armed with only a Swiss Army knife and a vaporizing potion, Seth hiked to the appointed meeting area. Hopefully, Newel and Doren would be there on time and not have gotten distracted by some dryad already. He checked his watch. 3:00 PM. Good, Seth still had fifteen minutes to get to the satyrs' hangout.

As he approached the satyrs' shack, Seth noticed something was amiss. There was no blaring music; yelling voices; or sports announcers' frenzied monologue. Silently creeping to the door, Seth peeked in. Dark and very quiet. Just as he turned to close the door, Seth noticed something hastily nailed onto it. Frowning, he yanked it off and quickly scanned it. The note read:

_Dear Seth,_

_So sorry we couldn't make it. Remembered we had an appointment with the nipsies._

_Newel & Doren_

Smiling a little, Seth shook his head. It was just like the satyrs to wriggle their way out of anything they considered to be work. Oh well. Doing it alone would be more fun anyways.

Seth placed the note on a table so they would know that he had gotten it. Not that they would care. The satyrs had probably already forgotten about him. Carefully closing the door, Seth made his way out of the shack.

Alert for any suspicious movements or sounds, Seth traversed through the forest. Shadows were just starting to hug the trees, casting swirling patterns on the forest floor. Seth made it to Graulas's cave in record time.

Hesitantly, Seth walked into the cave. Eyes adjusting to the darkness, Seth could just make out the form of the demon, hunched over among piles of junk.

Graulas was wheezing. It sounded like he had just run ten miles and had asthma. The demon looked up at Seth, eyes cloudy and runny.

"Come alone this time?" Graulas rasped. Shortly after saying this, he broke into a fit of coughing.

"Yeah. Do you need anything? We have inhalers back at the house."

"No, no. Like I said, death comes slowly and painfully to my kind. This isn't even the worst yet."

"That sucks."

Graulas looked at Seth and meticulously studied him before asking, "What do you need, boy? You wouldn't come here if you didn't need something."

Seth paused, not sure how to begin.

"Um, well, there's this guy, Warren. When me and my sister went off on our last expedition, Gavin- Navarog-I mean, trapped him in different dimension and destroyed our only way of getting him back. I thought you might be able to help us find him."

"I can't find him for you." Graulas stated hoarsely.

Seth looked crushed "But he's our cousin and he works here. I guess I should have known not to expect anything." He trailed off and started back to the entrance of the cave.

Graulas's voice called him back "I didn't say I wouldn't show you a way that you could use to rescue him. Let me think."

The old demon rocked back and forth on his heels, lost in thought. His rheumy eyes glittered as he turned back to Seth.

"There is a way, but it requires your shadow charmer skills. It's called shadow teleportation. Are you willing to try it?"

Seth vigorously nodded his head.

"I'll demonstrate first. Then, you copy _exactly_ what I do."

"Okay."

Graulas hobbled over to a corner of the cave. He explained as he worked.

"First, concentrate on a shadow."

Graulas fixed his gaze on the shadow of a decrepit bookcase.

"Next, pull it into you. Think only of absorbing it. Finally, imagine where you want to go and you will be transported there."

Graulas disappeared from the corner and reappeared near the entrance of the cave.

"Cool!" Seth exclaimed.

"For your turn, we're just going to teleport ourselves outside of the old mansion, then back here."

Seth nodded and followed Graulas back into the entrance of the cave. Graulas took the same shadow as he had before. Seth picked the shadow of an old overstuffed armchair.

He focused on absorbing the shadow. After a few tries, he mastered it. He felt coolness pour into him and everything immediately darkened. Seth flew around the cave using the teleportation for a couple of minutes before returning to where he had originally been standing.

Seth looked over at Graulas, who nodded. Seth took a deep breath and focused on thinking of the mansion.

It was like Seth had entered a wind tunnel. Everything zipped by in distorted blurs. The world disappeared and reappeared in the blink of an eye. Even though it was the same as what he had done in Graulas's cave, it was more amazing over long distances.

Seth carefully peeled open his eyes and grinned at Graulas.

"That. Was. Awesome!" he shouted.

Graulas nodded and smiled at Seth's enthusiasm. The energy of the trip had winded him and he was breathing hard.

Seth looked at the sky. It was turning cotton candy pink and streaks of fiery orange shot across the horizon. The shadows around them were slowly getting darker and longer.

"Great. I really need to get home. My grandparents are so going to kill me. Can we go back now?"

Graulas nodded and gestured at the shadows "When you're ready."

Seth found a shadow and soon he and Graulas were being teleported back to the old demon's cave.

At Graulas's lair, Seth turned toward Graulas to thank him. The demon was crumpled on the floor, breathing hard. Seth ran over to him and knelt down beside Graulas. The demon cracked open an eyelid and groaned.

He licked his dry, chapped lips and whispered "My time is coming soon."

Seth's eyes widened and he asked "Do you need anything? The main house has a first aid kit and some magical medicine things."

"No, just get home."

"Do you think I could use shadow teleportation to get home faster?"

"No, too much in one day will be exhausting and it could affect your powers long-term. It would be best to take the golem. Leave me, I'll be fine." With that, Graulas closed his eyes from the pain and weakly waved his hand in the direction of the cave entrance.

Seth nodded "Thanks for everything. Bye."

He walked toward the entrance to the cave and stood in the shadows debating whether to follow the demon's orders or not. Seth decided it would be best to follow them. Anyways, what if the teleportation backfired and he was left standing in an unknown or unvisited part of the preserve? Seth didn't want to be left out with dangerous creatures all night. Some of them were cool, but they were not exactly the ones that you wanted to sit with at a campfire and roast marshmallows.

Decision made, Seth put his fingers to his lips and whistled. The whistle pierced the dusk air and it was not long before Hugo came bounding up to take him home.

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"You're telling me that you visited a demon unaccompanied and without permission? Young man, you are in very big trouble. Just wait until your grandpa hears about this."

Grandma was standing in front of the kitchen sink, stir spoon in hand. She wielded it like a brandishing iron as she talked, or more accurately, yelled.

Across the table form Seth, Kendra rolled her eyes and mouthed "Busted". Seth kicked her shin under the kitchen table.

"Ouch!" Kendra glared at Seth.

Grandma took no notice and continued ranting "You are grounded young man. No going into the woods _ever _unaccompanied again. For the next two weeks, you're going nowhere but the rooms in this house. Understand me?"

Seth lowered his head and averted his eyes and quietly answered "Yes, Grandma."

As soon as they finished dinner and Grandma was gone, most likely to find Grandpa and tell him about Seth, Seth grabbed Kendra's arm and yanked her out of her chair.

"Upstairs, quick." Seth nodded his head in the direction of the stairs. "I need to tell you something."

Kendra rolled her eyes but followed Seth up the stairs to their bedroom. Seth peeked out onto the landing outside their room and checked to make sure the coast was clear. He gently closed the door.

Kendra stood by her bed, arms crossed. "Who'd you find now, our dead great-grandparents?" she asked sarcastically.

"No, way cooler. When I visited Graulas, he showed me how to do this shadow charmer trick called shadow teleportation. Watch."

Seth picked a shadow from next to his bed and teleported himself over to the door to their room.

Kendra nodded, semi-impressed and shifted her weight to one hip, arms still crossed. "Okay, so you can teleport yourself. Way to go, Spock. Now, how is this going to help us?"

Seth walked over to where Kendra was standing and faced her.

"I was thinking that maybe I could go get Warren using shadow teleportation."

"Yeah, well there are just two tiny flaws with your plan. One, it's got to happen in two weeks from now. You're grounded remember?"

"Oh, right," Seth said glumly, eyes downcast, looking at his feet.

"Number two, we have to find Warren first."

Seth looked up from his feet, eyes bright once more, and exclaimed "Ask the Fairy Queen!"

"What?!"

"She's got powers and stuff. Probably has some crystal ball or something that she could use to find him."

"No way! I'm not getting turned into a dandelion. I may be fairy kind, but that doesn't mean that I can go ask her for favors every day. Anyways, what do you want me to do? Go up to the shrine and say 'Uh, we sort of lost this guy at Wyrmroost and we would really like you to find him using your fairy powers?' Uh-uh. Not happening."

"Wait! I know what we could do. There's these things that Coulter has called nanolocaters. They're kind of like a cross between the Translocator artifact and a GPS. You know, able to find magical stuff, but they don't require a lot of work like the Translocator does."

"That's great, but how would we get those and rescue Warren without getting into trouble? Considering that we probably won't even get past stealing the nanolocaters. We can't do stuff like this on our own."

"We'll have Gavin help us then, in addition to the nanolocaters. He's the one who trapped him, so he should have an idea of how to find him. Don't worry. Leave the planning to me. Plus, in doing this I can clear my name and punishment; everybody will win. I'm going to go see if Coulter's gone yet. You go explain it to Gavin."

Seth walked out of the room, already plotting. Meanwhile, Kendra sat down on her bed and picked at the quilt on it. _'What did I just do?' _she thought. _'We are going to be in so much trouble.'_

Shaking her head, Kendra got up off her bed and started towards Gavin's room.


	6. Lost and Almost Found

**Author's Note: **Hey everybody! Sorry about the long wait; I have not abandoned this story. Weekend before last, I had a ton of homework. Last weekend, my school had a four-day weekend, so my family went on vacation (Disneyland!). I tried to make up for it by writing a longish chapter.

About the story, they're finally making it out of Fablehaven! I know, it only took me what, six chapters (that's sarcasm )? Oh well, on with the story!

Please give me reviews on how I can improve! They can be about grammatical issues, plot structure, character building, parts that don't match up with the books, ideas that you have that you would like me to incorporate into this, etc. Basically, anything that could possibly make this story better! I want this story to be something all of us want to read.

Disclaimer: Do I look like Brandon Mull? Nope. I have no ownership to his characters, only mine.

Chapter Six: Lost and Almost Found

"Everybody present?" Seth asked. He held a clipboard in one hand, pen in the other, trying to look studious and serious. It was not working at all.

Kendra groaned and lightly punched Seth in the shoulder.

Rolling her eyes, Kendra said "No, Gavin's missing. Seriously Seth, being official does _not_ suit you."

Kendra and Seth stood around Gavin's bed. Gavin was sitting up in bed, his injured leg propped up on a pillow. Finally, thanks to Tanu's potions, the cast had come off and the crutches were put away. Now, Gavin just limped around, holding onto any supportable object.

Gavin smiled at Seth and Kendra; they would never stop teasing each other. But he knew it meant nothing, they still loved each other. Part of him longed for someone to love him; a family that would look beyond his past and take him as who he really was.

Seth cleared his throat "Okay. Apparently everybody's here, as someone so kindly enlightened me." Here, he looked pointedly at Kendra, who smirked. "So, we're here to save Warren. So far, our plan is to locate Warren and-"

Seth was cut off by Kendra interrupting "Can you tell us something we _don't_ know?"

Seth glared at her and continued "Okay, I got the nanolocaters from Coulter. He had them hidden in plain sight in his _closet_."

"Seth, for most people, the closet isn't exactly a place where things are in 'plain sight'. I don't even want to know what else you snooped through." Kendra stated exasperatedly.

"Oh, not much," Seth said mysteriously, a sly look covering his face.

"Don't tell me."

Gavin broke in "We have the nanolocaters and transportation. What do we do next?"

Seth turned away from Kendra to address him "That's where you come in. The nanolocaters give the dimension of where Warren's at, but we need to know where to access the dimension. Each dimension has an access point. Access points for them can be found all over the world. Kendra and I need a … escort… we couldn't get really far by ourselves because of our age. Plus, you might know how to get Warren out because you, you know …" Seth trailed off.

Gavin nodded; his expression serious. "Okay, that makes sense. I'll go with you. But if you want me to help you pinpoint Warren's location-" He shrugged his shoulders, "I have no clue where Navarog put him. But, I might be able to help you get him out of his dimension."

Seth nodded in approval; then asked "Think we should try the nanolocater now?"

"Yep."

"Okay."

Seth picked up a black, square object that was about the size and shape of a good-sized novel. It had a small screen on it, about the size of an iPhone. He studied the dials and buttons for a moment, then pressed the one labeled "locate". Presently, a woman's cheerful voice crackled to life and asked "What do you wish to find?"

Seth looked around at Gavin and Kendra, who nodded in assent.

"Warren Burgess," Seth stated loudly, making sure to enunciate clearly.

"Finding," the voice paused for a second, "Warren Burgess."

After a few seconds of silence, the audio system came back on and announced "Ninth dimension. Access point of dimension unknown."

Everyone looked at each other.

"What now?" Gavin inquired. "We don't know where the ninth dimension's access point is."

Kendra looked thoughtful for a moment; then she smiled "What about Fablehaven's library" There has to be a book on dimensions in there."

Seth stared at her. "Really, Kendra, the _library _of all places?" He said library like it was a foul-tasting food he abhorred.

"I know you just _love _to read, Seth. C'mon, don't you want to find Warren?" she said as she started walking out of the room.

"I am not looking up _anything_," Seth grumbled as he followed close behind his sister.

Gavin followed at a slower pace, hobbling along with his injured leg. He smiled to himself.

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Kendra scanned each bookshelf, examining spines and covers of books for anything that pertained to or might have a clue about dimensions and their access points. Gavin sat at a mahogany table, poring over the piles of books that covered the top of it. Seth stood in the doorway, refusing to put one foot in the library. He did not want to get called a bookworm again.

Kendra, now on her third wall covered with shelving, squatted down to get a better look at the books shelved on the bottom rows. Scanning the titles, she spotted one that might have what she wanted in it. Kendra pulled the slim book from its shelf. It had a crimson colored cover and bent, yellowed pages that were worn with age. The book was titled _Dimensions and Realities: Information and How to Reach Them_.

Blowing the dust off of the cover, Kendra walked over to a leather armchair and began flipping through the pages. When she reached the table of contents, Kendra placed her finger on in and skimmed the page. There, 'Chapter Eight: Accessing Hidden Dimensions', page 112.

Kendra furiously flipped to the listed page. Finding it, she scanned the page and found what she needed.

"All dimensions have access points. There are a total of thirteen known dimensional access points throughout the world. They are as follows:

Dimension/Location:

1/Chicago, Illinois

2/Portland, Oregon

3/Waimea, Maui, Hawaii

4/Los Angeles, California

5/Venice, Italy

6/Cornwall, England

7/Vancouver, Canada

8/Dublin, Ireland

9/Nanwalek, Alaska

10/Arcachon, France

11/Kauhava, Finland

12/Frankfurt, Kentucky

13/Rio de Janeiro, Brazil"

The chapter went on and on, but Kendra had read all that she needed to. Finger marking the page, she walked over to the table where Gavin was at and placed the book on the table.

"Guys," she said "I found it. Nanwalek, Alaska. So, who's in charge of buying plane tickets?"

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The low rumble of the plane's engines started up. Over the plane's intercom, a female flight attendant's perky voice started talking.

"Hello, and welcome to Alaska Air's flight 437 to Juneau, Alaska. At this time, we would like to inform you about some of the important safety features of this aircraft." The flight attendant droned on about the emergency exits, oxygen masks, and other safety precautions.

Kendra leaned her head against the cool surface of the small window and looked out at the airport building and other planes. They were travelling coach and had gotten three seats together. Gavin was acting as the mediator between Kendra and Seth for the flight, sitting in the middle. This left Seth with an aisle seat, which he complained nonstop about.

The flight attendant finally ended her repertoire with, "This is a five hour flight, so please get to know your neighbors. Have a nice day and thank you again for choosing to fly Alaska Air!" The intercom crackled off.

The plane began to taxi, slowly moving past the airport scenery. After ten minutes of this, Kendra felt herself tilting in her seat, and the plane began to rise. The airport, surrounding buildings, and cars turned into small dots out the window.

"How much longer?" Seth inquired innocently.

Kendra groaned. This was going to be a long flight. Thank goodness for music, though. Giving Gavin a sympathetic look, Kendra inserted her earbuds into her ears and opened her book.

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Five hours and 211 complaints from Seth later, Gavin had counted, they landed in Juneau, Alaska. The group collected their bags from the baggage carousel and walked outside to the front of the airport.

Gavin led them to the rental car facility, where they rented an army green colored Jeep, via Seth's profits from the satyrs.

After Gavin had finished the transaction with the clerk, they put all of their bags into the Jeep and got situated. Kendra sat shotgun and Seth sat in the backseat with all of their bags.

Gavin inserted the key into the ignition and turned it. The Jeep sputtered to life, emitting dark clouds from its tailpipe as it did.

"Where to?"

Kendra pulled the nanolocater out of her backpack and tapped a few buttons, reading the map pictured on the screen. It looked like the only purpose that the screen served was to picture maps that looked like they came off of Google Maps.

"Nanwalek; it's 623 miles away. There aren't any direct roads to it after we pass these cities; so I guess we're going to have to go off-roading for part of our trip." Kendra replied as she looked at the screen of the nanolocater.

"Sounds like fun," Gavin joked.

"What speed are we at?' Kendra asked him.

"35 m-miles per hour."

Kendra tapped a few more buttons on the nanolocater, before declaring "It's going to take about fifteen and a half hours to get to Nanwalek."

"Does that thing h-h-h-have a motel locater on it?" Gavin said with a straight face.

Kendra turned the nanolocater around, examining it. After a few minutes, she said "Actually, it does. There are also restaurant and gas station locaters on here, too."

"We're going to need them."

"When do you want to stop for the night?" Kendra asked Gavin.

"Whenever I start f-f-f-falling asleep over the wheel," Gavin replied.

"Are you guys done talking yet? 'Cause I'm trying to get some sleep back here." Seth called from the backseat.

"You, sleeping? Amazing." Kendra retorted. "But yes, we're done."

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~FFive hours and one McDonalds' dinner later, the Jeep pulled over into the desolate parking lot of a small motel. Gavin parked the car and looked over at the passenger seat at Kendra.

"This it?" he asked.

"Yep. The last sign of civilization for the next 472 miles."

"W-Wow."

"Seth. We're here." Kendra called out to the backseat.

No response. Looking at Gavin quizzically, she turned in her seat to see what was wrong.

"Uhhnrr." A loud snore erupted.

Kendra smiled wryly as she said "Well, that's certainly a first."

Kendra opened her door and was enveloped by darkness. Feet crunching in the snow, she walked around to Seth's side of the Jeep. Kendra opened his door and looked in. Seth was sprawled across his seat and their bags; mouth wide open, head tilted at what looked like an inhumanly possible angle. More snores emitted from him.

Kendra leaned over and shook him by the shoulders.

"Seth, we're here. Wake up."

"Huh? What?" Seth asked drowsily.

"We're here!" Kendra said in a slightly louder voice.

"Oh." Seth shook his head and rubbed his eyes. "It feels like I just fell asleep. That was fast."

"Seth, we've been driving for five hours," Kendra said with concern. "You never sleep like this. Are you feeling okay?"

"Yeah, fine. Just tired. Probably because of the flight."

"Okay," Kendra said, but cast one more concerned look in her brother's direction.

She crunched through the snow back to the other side of the Jeep to get her bags and Gavin and Seth followed suit.

The motel was small; it probably held no more than ten rooms. But what it lacked in space, it made up for in warmth. Its front windows had a cheery glow spilling out from around their curtains. From what Kendra could see, it looked like a large, old-fashioned mountain cabin.

Kendra, Seth, and Gavin hauled their bags and Warren-locating paraphernalia up the walkway to the motel. At the door, they were greeted by an elderly woman who ushered them in. She herded them over to a small desk in the corner, where she took down information about the stay in a large binder. Gavin paid with, yet again, Seth's "profits". Throughout this, Seth yawned constantly.

This done, she led them to their rooms, both ground floor. Gavin and Seth would sleep in one, Kendra in the other. Their rooms were both connected by a door in between them.

Kendra's room was small, only a bed; a table with two chairs; and a tiny bathroom. The whole room had a woodland feel, from the antlers above the door to the knitted pine tree and bear comforter on her bed.

Kendra got all of her things put in place, before walking over to the boys' room. She knocked once, softly, before entering.

Their room was not much bigger than hers. The only difference was the two beds and slightly larger bathroom.

Seth and Gavin had already unpacked. Seth's idea of unpacking, of course, was throwing his clothes on the floor and chair next to his bed. Gavin's was a little neater, keeping only to his chair.

Seth was already in his bed, dead to the world. Gavin looked up from what he was doing and saw Kendra standing in the doorway to his room.

"H-H-Hey."

Kendra motioned for Gavin to follow her into her room; then quietly shut the door behind them, so as to not disturb Seth, not that that would have mattered.

She turned to Gavin and said "Keep an eye on Seth. He's usually not like this. It's only 9 o'clock. Something's wrong, Gavin."

Gavin nodded "He fell a-a-asleep as soon within five minutes of unpacking. But it could j-j-just be from all of the travelling. It's been a long day."

"I know. But usually travelling makes him hyper."

Kendra nervously chewed on a fingernail; then added for clarification "More than usual, that is."

Gavin smiled "We'll see in the morning. 'Night."

"Goodnight."

Gavin walked back to his room, leaving Kendra pondering.

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Sunlight peeked in through forest green curtains, waking Kendra. She blearily opened her eyelids to greet the morning.

'_Where am I?'_ she wondered.

It took a moment for the settings to register before Kendra realized that she was in the Alaskan motel, not the attic bedroom that she usually shared with Seth at Fablehaven.

_Seth._

Kendra sat up quickly in her bed. In her haste, she accidentally hit her head on the bed's headboard, which produced a dull _thunk_. Kendra yelped and rubbed her head.

A few minutes later, she heard a soft knock on the door adjoining her room and the boys' room.

"Come in," Kendra called.

Kendra was still rubbing her head when Gavin stepped into her room.

"Hi!" she said cheerily when she saw who it was.

"Hey. I wanted to be sure you were awake before I c-c-came in. Which by the thunk, I g-guessed you were."

"Yep." She said ruefully "I'm fully awake now. What do you need?"

"It's Seth. He won't wake up. I've shaken him, his bed, e-even raised my voice. I don't know what's wrong, except for it being a m-m-magically induced type of sleep. Remember on the plane yesterday how he kept on yawning and nodding off? That started right after the f-f-flight attendants started serving us those complimentary drinks. I b-bet someone in the Society somehow got to them and duped one of ours. How they g-g-g-gained access to the drinks, though, is beyond me."

Kendra nodded "You're probably right."

Then, she took a deep breath and turned to face Gavin. "I want to see him."

Gavin held open the door and gestured her through. "After you," he said as he closed it behind them.

Kendra looked at Seth, who was lying as still as a statue on his bed, trapped in a magical sleep caused by some heartless Society member.

Kendra put her hand over her mouth and her eyes flooded with tears. "Why Seth?" she murmured. "Why not me, you? What do they want with us?"

She started pacing in front of Seth's bed; face hard, but still struggling not to cry.

"I never should have agreed to this! He's my little brother; I'm supposed to look out for him! If Grandma and Grandpa were upset before, when I tell them that Seth is next to dead, they're going to be furious." Kendra stopped pacing and looked at Gavin "What kind of a sister am I?"

Her face buried in her hands, Kendra collapsed onto the foot of Seth's bed. Her shoulders quaked with each sob she emitted.

Gavin knelt by the edge of the bed. Kendra looked up and her eyes met with his chocolate brown ones. His were filled with compassion and strength.

"The best," he said firmly.

"What do we do now?" Kendra whispered, tears still trickling down her cheeks, leaving glistening trails.

Gavin gazed out the window for a moment; then looked down at her. "We find a potions person who c-can get Seth out of this-" here he gestured at Seth's prostrate form on the bed "Then we find Warren. We aren't aborting th-th-this mission, no matter what the Society throws at us."


	7. Potions and Reacquaintances

**Author's Note: **I promise that this isn't going to be a story that is updated every two weeks (Or is it three?). I just had a ton of homework last week and a huge test on the U.S. Constitution that was worth half of our history grade. Sorry.

For those of you asking for Gavin, here he is. I'm not sticking to Brandon Mull's specific Kendra/Seth third person limited (or whatever POV it was) POVs this chapter. Since Gavin is one of my main characters in this story, he gets to have his own chapter, too.

You might have already noticed, but if you didn't, I changed the summary a little bit. I just remembered about Seth and Kendra's parents being kidnapped. Sorry for some of the spelling/grammar mistakes. They weren't there when I typed this up. I tried to change them after it was posted, but the system wouldn't let me change them. :(

Disclaimer: Alas, neither Fablehaven nor Gavin belong to me. They are owned by Brandon Mull. Now, onto the fun stuff!

Chapter Seven: Potions and Reacquaintances

"So how exactly are we supposed to find this potions person; assuming that there's even one in Alaska?" Kendra asked.

"I don't know. Don't you have one at F-Fablehaven?"

"Yes, Tanu. But I thought you said that we weren't aborting this mission." Kendra said in a slightly challenging tone.

"I know. But we should put Seth's w-w-welfare first, since he's still with us. Warren's fine in whatever dimension he's sitting in. He can wait a l-little while longer." Gavin stated defensively.

"Warren's fine?! He's been sitting with some stupid Yahtzee game to keep him company for over three months and you're calling that fine?" During this, Kendra's voice had risen an octave.

"So, Seth doesn't matter now? Your own brother?"

"He does! But you have no right to decide Warren's fate! As I clearly recall, _you_ trapped him in there. Albeit, as Navarog, but it's your fault that we're even on this stupid mission! If it weren't for Wyrmroost, none of this would have ever happened!"

"My fault?!" Gavin's expression had turned threatening. His eyes were dark; not warm and compassionate like they had been moments ago, but cold and hard.

"Like I said before, Kendra, I had absolutely _no _power over what N-N-Navarog did. I would reverse time if I could to change what he did, but unfortunately, I can't. Maybe y-you're right Kendra, maybe you and I both shouldn't have agreed to come on this mission. Maybe I made a wrong choice even coming back to you a-a-at all." Gavin snapped before he wheeled around to walk out of the room. "I'm checking us out. Meet me at the Jeep when you're ready to go." That said, he stormed out of the room.

As the door closed behind him, Kendra crumpled onto Seth's bed, tears now flowing freely.

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Gavin strode to where their group had checked in; trying to take deep breaths to calm down. Why couldn't anybody understand that all he was trying to do was to help them and clear his name? To make people realize that he was not evil, just an orphaned boy who wanted a family; a family that would accept him for who he really was. Not the Gavin Rose impersonated by the demon prince Navarog, but the Gavin Rose who had a heart.

Gavin shook his head, trying to erase his confusing thoughts. It was not like any of them were going to happen too soon anyways.

Gavin's thoughts turned to Kendra. He had known that she would be the hardest to win back. Gavin had sensed that near the end, she had had feeling toward him that were a little more than ones that would come out of a friendship. By her "welcoming" reaction, he knew that she had been crushed by "Gavin's" betrayal.

Just when Gavin thought that things were getting "back to normal", she had to bring up Navarog. People's general hostility toward him had made him touchy on that subject.

Now, Gavin wished that he had not snapped at Kendra. It was not her fault; she was just stating the cold, hard facts. Cruel facts that Gavin wished were not real.

Once again, Gavin shook his head. _"What's done is done,' _he told himself firmly _'there's no changing it now.'_

Finally, Gavin thought about Seth. He really did feel sorry for the poor kid. Gavin knew first-hand what it was like to have absolute zero-control over your own body. Briefly, Gavin thought that it might have been better to be unconscious, but still occupying 100% of his body rather than having it been shared with a demon. Quickly, he diminished the thought. At least when Navarog occupied him Gavin could still realize what was happening around him. On top of that, Seth could not move his body at all.

By now, Gavin had reached the "front desk". The elderly lady was standing behind her tiny desk, waiting for some other psychos that wanted to come and have a "vacation" out in no man's land. Only nutcases would come out here.

The whole time the elderly lady was checking them out in her enormous black binder, Gavin was lost in thought. He really should apologize to Kendra; he did not actually mean what he had said to her. Gavin started drafting apologies in his head, each more eloquent than the last. None of them sounded good. A simple "I'm sorry" would have to suffice.

At last, the little old lady was done scribbling in her binder. She handed Gavin a handwritten receipt, then bustled off to who knows where.

Gavin stared at the receipt in his hand. On it, the old lady had written:

_Beware. Danger lurks at every corner. Watch your backs, you are being followed._

Looking up from the receipt, Gavin gazed in the direction that the old lady had left. Who was she?

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Kendra was out by the Jeep with all of their bags when Gavin walked out of the motel.

"Seth's inside," she said shortly when Gavin came within hearing distance. Kendra nodded her head curtly in the direction of their rooms.

Gavin dipped his head and turned back around to the direction where he had come from.

'_Now how am I supposed to apologize?' _he thought _'She won't even listen to me. But I really don't want to have to get the silent treatment for the rest of this mission. Why do girls have to be so confusing?!'_

Gavin made his way to Seth's room, deliberately walking slower so he could stay away from Kendra's wrath as long as possible.

'_Wow, self; scared of a girl. Not even an armed girl at that. Now _that _is really degrading.'_ The wonders of verbal communication would never cease to amaze him.

Gavin stooped down to pick up Seth. Lucky kid, he got to escape arguments by being Sleeping Beauty.

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If tension between two people could be described in temperature, then the atmosphere in the car was volcanically hot. Kendra would only answer Gavin's questions with a curt "yes" or "no" reply when possible. Every time Gavin talked, he stuttered. For two hours, the conversation went like this:

Gavin: "Where t-to?"

Kendra: "Anchorage."

Gavin: "When do y-y-you want to stop for lunch?"

Kendra: "Doesn't matter."

For two whole hours, Kendra stonily gazed out the window; not once looking over at Gavin.

Meanwhile, Gavin clutched the steering wheel like a drowning man would to a life raft. He was having an internal war with himself and his conscience. His conscience was saying _'Just apologize to her. It's now or never. It's not like any_thing _is going to get better if you don't apologize to her.' _But Gavin was arguing back, _'What if things get worse? She could end up yelling at me again if I screw up.' _In the end, Gavin's conscience won.

Mustering up all of his manliness and courage, Gavin spoke up "K-K-K-Kendra?"

_'Stupid stutter.'_

"What?"

"Uh, about what I said to you back at the motel. I d-didn't mean it. It's just that when people bring up Navarog, my guard instantly goes up. I instinctively th-th-think that they're going to say something negative about me. It's kind of a sore s-subject. I'm sorry about what I said. Really. A-A-And I am glad that you brought me here with you. I finally feel like I'm being accepted by p-p-people."

Kendra turned away from the passing scenery outside the window. "I'm sorry about what I said too. I don't know what I was thinking. I-" she paused "I guess I was just confused. Seth and Warren both mean a lot to me. I guess I just thought that it wasn't right that you were ignoring Warren. But I shouldn't have ignored Seth either. Consider us equal?"

"Yeah."

_'That went a lot better than I thought it would.' _Gavin thought to himself.

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The Jeep pulled up next to an old, abandoned office building. Gavin looked out the window at the crumbling mortar and peeling paint somewhat scornfully.

"You s-sure we're at the right place?" he asked.

"Yep. This is where the nanolocater said the nearest potions person was."

"Looks more like they'd be a drug dealer," Gavin stated.

Gavin stopped the Jeep and opened his door.

"Are we going to bring Seth?" Kendra called from the other side of the Jeep.

"No. If they need to see him, they can come out here. I don't want to have to fight or make a quick escape and w-w-worry about carrying Seth. I just need to get something out of the back really quick."

Gavin went around to the back of the Jeep and rummaged around in the trunk, digging out his spear.

"Your spear?" Kendra said incredulously, but it looked to Gavin like she was trying to hold in laughter.

"You never know, they could be working for the Society. I've got a dagger, too, if you want it."

"No thanks," Kendra said quickly. "Let's just get this over with. This place creeps me out. It reminds me of some gang hideout."

Gavin entered the building first, motioning for Kendra to stay behind him. The building had a sort of reception or front desk area that led to a hallway lined with office doors. All of the offices had long since been out of use. Through some doors, Gavin could see dusty rooms that were cleared of furniture. After about twelve doorways, the corridor ended abruptly. To the left of the main hallway, a slightly smaller passage branched out. This continued for several yards before it, too, ended. The whole office building was like a system of arteries that were connected to several larger veins. Now, though, the passage had ended in what looked to Gavin to be a sort of file or record room, as it was filled with metal shelving that held dust-coated boxes. From somewhere within the room, a light was switched on, making an eerie glow spill through the doorway.

Gavin stepped into the room, prepared to investigate, but was quickly yanked back into the shadows by Kendra.

"If someone's in there; let me do the talking. They're going to recognize you by your stutter, whether they're a Knight or from the Society. Either way, things wouldn't turn out good for us. Just pretend to be my bodyguard or something, go along with what I make up. Try to hide your face, too."

"Okay."

Kendra slipped into the doorway before Gavin. Silently, he followed her. She skirted the perimeter of the room before daring to venture into the labyrinth of metal shelves and cardboard boxes. At the dead center of the room, Gavin saw a man hunched over piles of papers. A whiteboard with numbers, words, and miscellaneous pictures; like something a mad scientist had written all over; was positioned in the corner of the workspace. Pots, or cauldrons, to be more specific; filled with mysterious multicolored concoctions were arranged along a counter.

Kendra stumbled over a loose file box, causing it to skid across the floor and into the view of the man. Gavin caught her and drew both of them back behind a metal shelf. When Gavin looked over at Kendra, her eyes were wide and she was breathing hard from the close call.

"That was close," she mouthed to him.

Gavin nodded. Way too close.

The man stopped flipping through his papers and slowly turned around. Crud.

"Who's there?" he called.

Super crud.

Kendra took a deep breath, bit her lip, and looked up at Gavin; her eyes asking her unsaid question. Gavin sighed, and then nodded in assent. She hesitantly stepped out from behind the shelf.

Reflexively, the man's hand snapped behind his back and he groped for a dagger. Finding it, he raised it in a defensive stance.

Raising her hands in the air to show that she had no weapons, Kendra slowly took a step closer and said to him, "We mean no harm." She gestured for Gavin to come out from behind the shelf, yet his facial features still remained concealed by the shadows. "All we want is for someone to help heal our brother. He got himself stuck in a magically-induced sleep. We need a potion to get him out of it."

Still holding the dagger in front of him, the man asked "How'd you know to come to me?"

"Our-our parents told us. They were going to come, but had to deal with some…family matters. Our brother would have had to wait for a week to get healed. We decided to take matters into our own hands."

"Huh. What are your names?" the man inquired, as if he were an interrogator questioning an accused suspect.

"Riley and Nate Travis."

"Brother's?"

"Hunter."

The man nodded in the direction of Gavin and pointed his next question at him. "Why can't that one back there speak for himself?"

"He's mute."

Of all the speaking disorders, Kendra had to choose muteness. Wow. They were going to have a serious talk once this was over.

"Ah. So, back to business. You expect this potion to come free?"

"No. List any price you want. We'll see if we can make it happen. If not," Kendra shrugged.

During this exchange, the man's dagger had slowly lowered so that it was now down by his thigh. He placed it back on the table and turned to face Kendra once again.

"Okay," he said slowly. "The type of potion you'd be looking for requires feathers from a phoenix and griffin, fairy dust, and bayberry."

"Fairy dust?" Kendra inquired dubiously, a smile struggling not to sneak onto her face.

"Yep. But not the Neverland stuff, this is the real deal."

Apparently there was fake and real fairy dust. Well, Gavin had learned something new today; he had not even known that fairy dust existed until he was enlightened by the man. He made a mental note to never become a potion maker, he did not want to turn into a nutcase who believed in sparkles and Neverland and pixie dust.

"Okay. What's your price?"

"Well, usually I charge money; about a $1000 per vial."

"We can pay you that."

"But," the man drawled "seeing as these are such rare ingredients, I'm thinking not money, but something equally rare, magical even."

"Like what?" Kendra asked curious and, by now, slightly worried.

"Oh, an artifact maybe. Or something useful in the magical world and human world."

Gavin could practically see the light bulb turn on in Kendra's head. _'No, don't do it,'_ he silently prayed, but it was to no avail.

"Um, do you know what a nanolocater is?"

The man shook his head no.

"It's like the Translocater artifact and a GPS in one device. They can find everyday objects and magical items or places."

Kendra could not be doing this. They _needed _that nanolocater to find Warren!

Gavin stepped forward and grabbed Kendra's upper arm, trying in vain to get his message through without losing his disguise as her mute brother.

"It's okay," Kendra whispered "We'll manage without it."

Frustrated, but unable to express his objections, Gavin stepped back into the shadows. Here went all of their planning down the drain in five seconds, just so they could get a potion from sleaze bucket.

"Okay, girl. You got a deal. Give me a few minutes and it will be ready."

By now, Gavin's eyes were flashing trying to contain words and emotions that he could not express at the moment. Kendra placed a placating hand on his forearm.

"Not now," she muttered in a low tone.

As promised, the potion was done within minutes. It was pale violet in color and was poured into a clear glass vial.

"Thank you so much," Kendra said as she reached for the vial. "You don't know how much this means to us."

The man moved the vial out of her reach. "Not so fast. What about your part of the bargain?"

'_Weasel,' _Gavin thought.

"Oh, right. Here," Kendra stated as she fumbled to get the nanolocater out of her backpack. She handed it over to the man, who, in turn, gave her the vial.

Just as they were about to turn to exit the workspace; Kendra turned, probably remembering something, Gavin guessed.

"I don't think I ever caught your name," Kendra called back to the man.

"Dewin." The man stated as he flashed an uneasy smile at her.

"Oh, thanks."

Gavin felt chills go down his spine. Here, of all places, he had to meet the man who ruined his life for two years. Dewin, the sorcerer who had mutated him into Navarog. He knew there had been something shady about him.

Kendra quickly navigated the through the file room and through the rest of the building. After two minutes, Kendra and Gavin raced out of the building into the clear Alaska morning. Kendra was breathing hard, her breath left puffs of steam in the frigid air. She looked over at Gavin who was opening his mouth to say something.

Before he even got a word out, she cut him off by saying, "In the car, you never know what has ears out here."

Gavin was about to object, but changed his mind and nodded his head in agreement. She had a point, there could be…things…listening.

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"You know who he is, right?" Gavin asked after they had been driving for a few minutes.

They were on their way to a rest stop that they had seen on their way to Anchorage. They had decided to wait to give Seth the potion until they were well away from Dewin.

"Yeah, the guy who morphed you into Navarog."

"That means the Society is crawling everywhere. What if-"

"Right here," Kendra stopped him off as she pointed to the rest stop.

Gavin parked as far away as he could from the other groups of people and cars parked around the picnic tables and bathrooms. They did not want people staring at them if there were "side effects" or if the potion backfired.

Kendra crawled into the backseat with Seth and got the potion out of her jacket pocket. Gavin joined her, crouching behind Seth's head.

"I need you to elevate his head so I can pour it in."

Gavin gently cradled Seth's head while Kendra uncapped the glass vial. Delicately, she poured the potion into Seth's mouth. Seth coughed but swallowed the liquid. After a few seconds that felt like eternity, his eyelids weakly fluttered open.

"Hi," he said in a barely perceptible whisper.

"Seth!" Kendra squealed as she hugged him.

"Seth coughed again. "Can't breathe!" he gasped out. His eyes were bulging like a frog's.

"Oh, sorry." Kendra loosened her grip on her brother, then placed her hands on his shoulders and held him an arm's distance away. "Don't you ever do anything like that to me again, understand?!"

"Yeah, but it wasn't really _my _fault," he said wryly.

Kendra laughed and hugged him again. When she pulled away from him again, Seth had a serious expression on his face.

"Um, Kendra? I've got something to tell you guys."


	8. Shamans and Detours

**Author's Note: **Sorry for the wait, I was trying to make it up to you guys by updating faster (since it is Thanksgiving break for me), but I had to do a lot of research for this chapter. If you don't mind reading my other note at the bottom, it states the facts about my setting. Blu3 Wat3rs/Lia- thank you so much for your idea, I hope that this chapter does it justice (well, part of this chapter).

Disclaimer: I don't even own all of the books (yet), so why would I own the series and its characters? So, to put it bluntly, I don't own Fablehaven, Brandon Mull does.

Chapter Eight: Shamans and Detours

Kendra and Gavin stared at Seth expectantly. Seth swallowed, a lump forming in his throat as he tried to figure out how to tell his story without sounding like a person who should belong in a loony bin.

"Um, well, I guess that I should start out by asking you to listen to the whole story, and not start jumping to conclusions."

Gavin and Kendra nodded.

"Okay. So, uh, this started a little while after I fell into my, uh, magical coma."

_Flashback_

_ Seth felt himself drift off into unconsciousness. With each passing minute, he drifted farther and farther away from the world and closer to never-ending darkness. Within ten hours of consuming the potion, it had taken effect._

_ Seth lost all consciousness of the world. His thoughts were replaced by a deep, dreamless sleep. It was almost relaxing until something started tugging at the corner of his mind. Seth ignored it; the potion was intoxicating and powerful. Whatever it was pulled harder at Seth's mind, not relenting. It was as if someone had cast out a fishing line and was trying to reel in a stubborn fish._

_ Seth's mind eventually gave way to the insistent tugging and let yet another force consume it. In the blink of an eye, the blackness had disappeared and a scene formed before Seth's mind's eye. The scene was obscured by a veil of cloudy white mist, so Seth could not make out exact details. What Seth did see through the mist, though, astonished him. He saw Warren in the knapsack, which was most likely in the ninth dimension. The image was swept away and Warren's face appeared. Much to Seth's surprise, he began speaking._

_ "Seth, I need you to listen to what I say. I don't have much time; this spell won't last for long. I don't know if you guys figured this out yet, but I'm in Nanwalek, Alaska. The access point of the dimension is in an old warehouse, about five miles away from any civilization, I guess. The warehouse was originally used for cool storage. I'm guessing seafood products, because it's fairly close to the ocean. Tell Stan and Ruth-" Warren's voice cut out and his face grew hazy. The connection snapped and Seth's mind plummeted into eternal darkness for the second time that day._

_End of flashback_

"So, basically, you know everything that happened after that." Seth recapped as he summed up Warren's directions.

Kendra and Gavin stared at Seth.

"Don't tell me that my little brother's brain just snapped and he turned into a shaman." Kendra murmured to Gavin.

"Far from it," Gavin whispered back. "I think Warren actually did contact Seth through a spell. When I – I mean Navarog, went into the kn-kn-knapsack, I remembered seeing a bag of spells in the corner before Navarog burned it. Warren probably used one of those. If he didn't, your guess may be fairly close."

"Let's hope you're right," Kendra answered, in a low tone so Seth would not hear her.

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So that was how they ended up hurtling towards Nanwalek at 70 miles per hour, on old farm roads. The ride itself was less than comfortable; every five minutes the Jeep struck a rock and went airborne; jostling its passengers.

"Can't you go a little slower?" Kendra called to Gavin as they hit yet another rut in the "road".

"Not if you want to spend th-the night in the car." Gavin called back.

Kendra shuddered at the thought, but answered, "That's impossible! We still have 465 miles to go. That's going to take six and a half hours. We're never going to make it there by tonight! The sun sets at four o'clock, we'll be there at seven o'clock. That means you're going to have to drive in the dark for three hours on these roads." Kendra said in an agitated tone of voice.

"And you found that out, how?"

Kendra waved her cell phone in front of Gavin's face. "I checked back at the motel."

"We'll see, you never know, there c-c-could be a highway or something."

Kendra crossed her arms and looked at him dubiously "It's not my fault if our necks get broken because we had to drive in the pitch black darkness on less than safe farm roads."

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About two hours later, Gavin spotted a road that eventually led to an interstate highway. The signboard above the highway read "To Seldovia". According to Gavin, Seldovia was only ten miles away from Nanwalek.

Everything was copasetic until Seth pointed out that the Jeep was being trailed.  
"Uh, guys, we've got company." Seth called from the backseat. Gavin's jaw clenched and his hands gripped the steering wheel tighter.

Kendra looked in the rearview mirror. Seth was right. A large black SUV _was _tailing them. It was gradually drawing closer, until Kendra could see the driver's seat. No way. There was no one in it.

"Seth, is there anyone in the driver's seat?" she asked anxiously.

"Yeah, a middle-aged woman. Do you need glasses, or something?"

Gavin took a quick look out of his rearview mirror. After glancing at it, he looked at Kendra peevishly.

"Seth's right, Kendra. There is a woman driving. Do you think it's your fairykind powers?"

"Probably, I bet the car has been programmed or something like that. Anyhow, they're gaining on us. We need to get out of here, now."

"Right." Gavin applied more pressure to the gas pedal, slowly gaining in speed until the speedometer reached 80 miles per hour.

The SUV still followed, never slowing, always just behind them. It made no move to take them over, yet. Not taking his eyes off of the rearview mirror that showed the trailing car, Gavin pressed the gas pedal harder.

Kendra suddenly screamed. "Gavin, slow down!"

She had just noticed a flashing sign that read "Road work ahead. Please turn around." A barricade blocking the reckless drivers loomed 100 feet away.

Gavin swerved and drove into the dirt and gravel lining the edge of one side of the road, narrowly missing the roadblock by a foot. He lessened up the pressure on the gas pedal and leaned over to yank back the lever toward him, activating the four-wheel drive mechanism.

The Jeep flew over the terrain, like a glorified Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. It leaped off boulders and soared over small trenches and dry riverbeds. Trees on either side of it whizzed past, green blurs on the landscape.

As the Jeep jarringly covered more ground, Kendra yelled "When exactly did you get your driver's license, Gavin?"

"Two months ago."

"Two months!"

Ignoring Kendra's shocked expression; Gavin glanced up at the rearview mirror, checking the pursuing car's position. It was gaining, fast. The terrain inclined, becoming steeper and rockier, much to the discomfort of everyone in the car. Kendra's and Seth's teeth were chattering together as they bounced around in their seats. The seatbelts and airbags would just be decorations if they crashed right now.

Kendra's eyes widened and she tensed in her seat. "Oh my God! Gavin! There's a huge cliff up ahead. We're not going to make it!"

Kendra had faced dragons and trolls and other dark beings, but now the cliff seemed like a very real demise to her.

For the first time in her life, Kendra closed her eyes and began praying under her breath. "God, I know that I have never admitted to believing in You, but if You _are _there, please listen to my pleas. Don't let us die, please. I don't want to die today, and certainly not because of driving off of a cliff. Please help us, God. Save us!"

The car behind them drew nearer and the cliff was fast approaching. In the backseat, Seth sat mute, unable to comprehend what was happening. Up front, Kendra was still feverishly praying and her face had gone deathly pale. In the driver's seat, Gavin sat like a statue. His face was expressionless, but his eyes showed determination and courage, yet his knuckles were white as he gripped the steering wheel.

With no more than 300 feet to go, Gavin gunned it. The speedometer's needle spun around like a whirling dervish, finally landing at 98 miles per hour. The Jeep raced up the incline, tearing up the ground. Behind them, the SUV followed at the same breakneck speed. 200 feet. 100. 50. The Jeep launched into the air. Through the dust left behind, Kendra could make out the following car skidding to a sideways stop. Parallel to the cliff edge, its quick brake sent gravel and dust flying over the edge of the cliff.

Kendra's "death drop" was not as high as she had expected it to be. It was only about 80 feet high, around the height of an eight story building. To most people flying off the edges of cliffs, this height would be a death sentence. But Kendra, Gavin, and Seth had the advantage of being in the Jeep, so their fall would be cushioned. Of course, the fall would still leave a mark.

After launching off the cliff like an Olympic pole vaulter, the Jeep flipped 360 degrees in the air, causing it to roll several times when it hit the ground before stopping. It rested on its passenger side. Inside the Jeep, the passengers were still.

Kendra had one last thought before unconsciousness stole her mind, _'Maybe my prayer did work'_.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

Kendra awoke to the sounds of cautious footsteps crunching on leaves and pebbles. Her vision was fuzzy and the airbag had inflated, nearly covering the whole front of the Jeep, so she barely made out the pair of legs standing next to the windshield. Kendra's first real thought was that her head was throbbing.

Slowly, her vision began clearing. Blinking her eyes, Kendra looked around at her fellow passengers. She could not see Seth from her vantage point; but Gavin was slumped over the steering wheel, blood trickling from a cut above his eyebrow down to his temple. Another cut on his lip dripped beads of blood down his chin. Altogether, he only had minor injuries, nothing more serious than something that could be fixed by a Band-Aid.

Kendra herself was unharmed. She only had a slight bruise on her arm from when it slammed into the door when the Jeep landed. Her head throbbed, a pulsing beat in her temples. It was probably the result of a concussion from slamming her head on the dashboard, she guessed.

Then, Kendra focused on the two legs in front of her. They were in a pair of fitted khaki cargo pants, so Kendra decided that the person was female. The cargo pants led down to…were those combat boots? Kendra did a double take. Yep, definitely combat boots. She beheld the person in front of her to either be a) a fashion model or b) a military wannabe. Probably a military wannabe; based on her stance. In her still foggy mind, it did not occur to Kendra that the person could want to harm them.

Next to her, Gavin groaned, drawing Kendra's attention away from the person. His eyelids cracked open and he whispered "Kendra, you okay?"

"Yeah, but I don't know about Seth." Then, dropping her voice to an even quieter whisper, she said "You might want to look outside." Kendra nodded her head in the direction of the person. Big mistake. The movement sent a whole new throbbing sensation through her head on top of the original one.

"I saw."

"What's the plan?"

Gavin looked at her like she was retarded, then sighed and said "Follow my lead."

He fished a Swiss Army Knife out of his back pocket and started penetrating the strata glass windows of the Jeep. Gavin continued along the perimeter of the window. Once it was fully cut out, he tossed the plastic-like material outside.  
"What about…" Kendra jerked her thumb towards the person outside and to Seth in the backseat, who was currently unreachable from their position.

"We'll c-c-cross those bridges when we come to them. Follow what I do." His stutter did not make him sound as convincing as he had hoped.

Gavin unfastened his seatbelt and gripped the side of his seat that was facing the window. He swung one leg up onto the steering wheel. Then, he gripped the bar that formed the edge of the driver's side window and pulled himself out. Even in their dire situation, Kendra could not help but admire how his biceps showed through his tight shirt.

She struggled to follow suit, and was pulled out by Gavin in a very gentlemanly fashion. Brushing dust off of herself, Kendra followed Gavin around to the front of the Jeep to meet Combat Girl, as she had nicknamed her.

Kendra had been expecting a confrontation, but not one this hostile. She took a step back towards the Jeep's vertical grill in surprise. Combat Girl had a crossbow aimed at Gavin's chest; and by her expression of her face, Kendra could tell that if she released the trigger, she would not miss her mark.

Gavin gestured for the girl to put her crossbow down.

"Stay behind me," he whispered to Kendra. She complied, quickly scurrying behind him.

"Put the crossbow down, Gavin ordered the girl,

"Why should I?" Combat Girl asked defensively, fingering the trigger.

Gavin licked his lips nervously before saying, "Look, all we w-w-want to do is get her brother out," here he gestured at Kendra "and get our stuff. Then we can leave and you can forget a-a-a-all about us. Anyways, what is a-" he gave her the once-over "twelve year old girl doing alone in the woods with a crossbow?"

"Thirteen," the girl corrected. "To answer your question, I was hunting. I live on my own and am the only person in these parts who can navigate through these forests."

"So it seems l-like we'll be needing your help…" Gavin paused, not knowing the girl's name.

"Gail."

'So, Gail, would you be willing to help us?" After Gavin said this, Kendra shot him a look that said "We don't even know if she's the enemy!"

"Yes, as long as you hand over your weapons."

"Okay."

Now, Kendra looked at Gavin like he was insane. They did not even know who this girl was except that she was named Gail; she lived alone; and was thirteen years old.

Gail helped Kendra and Gavin get Seth out from the Jeep and waited while they got their things.

Kendra was livid by now. As she dug her bags out from the trunk, she furiously whispered to Gavin 'Since when do we accept help from strangers? Five minutes ago Gail, if that's even her name, was holding a crossbow to your chest. Now we're going with her and having our weapons confiscated?! This is like walking into a death trap!"

Looking around to check Gail's position, Gavin pulled Kendra around to the other side of the Jeep and handed her a sheathed dagger.

"I've got a dagger in my boot; I suggest that you put this one in yours. I'm only doing this to see if she is a friend or enemy. Right now, my instincts are screaming for me to run, but you heard what she said about the forests, Gail's our key to getting out of here, like it or not. All I can say is stay on your guard."

Kendra crossed her arms and "hmphed", but did not argue.

Gavin, Kendra, and Seth emerged from behind the Jeep with their bags.

Gavin handed Gail his spear and said "Lead on."

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

They traveled for what Kendra figured to be about five miles through never-ending trees until Gail said that they should stop for the night. They picked a campsite that was in a grove of thick trees. It gave Kendra the eerie feeling that someone or something could watch her from any angle. She tried to shrug off the feeling as darkness closed in.

Gail built a fire and they all made their beds out of spare clothes and packs. They were not the world's finest beds, but they were a lot better than hard ground.

No sooner had Kendra fallen asleep; than she felt someone shaking her awake.

"Get up," someone whispered fiercely. Kendra guessed it was Gail.

Kendra threw off the sweatshirt she had been using as a blanket and found herself face to face with Gail's crossbow. She must be dreaming, this could not be happening.

She looked over to the campfire and saw Gavin and Seth with their hands tied behind their backs. This was not looking good. If this was a dream, she wanted it to end right now. The tip of the arrow loaded in Gail's crossbow pressed against her throat, nicking it and drawing a few ruby beads of blood. Gavin's eyes widened a he let out a muffled yell, struggling to get out of his bonds. Kendra gulped and slowly averted her eyes to look back at Gail, who grinned slyly at her.

"Beauty rest's over, princess," Gail said as two men crept out from the shadows that ringed the grove of trees.

**Author's Note: **In Alaska, the sun does actually set at 4:00 p. m. exactly on November 25, 2012. There are no direct roads to Nanwalek because it can only be accessed by boat or by air, so the highway I created probably doesn't exist. I just made it up for the car chase. Sorry if the parts with the car weren't realistic, I don't drive yet and when I'm in the car, my nose is usually in a book. To give you guys a better feel for the scene, I kind of imagined sitting in the Jeep as it "flew over the terrain" to be like riding a wooden roller coaster. Sadly, I've never been off-roading or anything of that sort, so the description might not be too accurate.


End file.
